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PAGE 2A-THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 21.2023
Tolbert continued from 1A
BOE
continued from 1A
probation. She has waived
her Fourth Amendment
rights during probation,
which will permit search
es of her home without re
quirement of a warrant. She
is also sentenced as a first
offender, meaning that if
she successfully completes
her sentence her charges
will be removed from her
record.
Her sentence will start on
Monday, Sept. 25, so she
has time with her family.
People filled the Madison
County courtroom on Tues
day to hear the sentence,
with several state witness
es traveling from all over
Georgia to give testimony.
COAG is the association
representing constitution
al officers across the 159
counties of Georgia. The
officers include Clerks of
the Superior Court, probate
judges, tax commission
ers and sheriffs. COAG’s
funds are largely made up
of officers’ membership
dues and other expens
es that come from county
budgets, so state witnesses
asserted that Tolbert stole
taxpayers’ money. It was
also reported that she had
previous experience with
ethics training and had seen
embezzlement cases like
her own to know the con
sequences.
State witnesses said that
Tolbert drained COAG’s
account and their ability
to pay bills and contracted
obligations. Several vendor
invoices were also report
ed as not paid out under
Tolbert’s leadership. Both
current president Stacy
Haralson and former pres
ident Cindy Cannon spoke
of what COAG has endured
from the embezzlement.
Haralson spoke of sever
al tasks she had not asked
to do that she has had to do
to keep COAG afloat in
cluding accounting; train
ing a new executive direc
tor; determining who had
not been given invoices;
and contacting different en
tities for hours a night, past
the typical 9-5 job.
“It’s consumed my life,”
she concluded in her tes
timony. “There have been
many a night where I cried
myself to sleep just be
cause of the stress of how
to run to keep us running.
It’s taken so much time
away from my family, from
my boys, from my job as
Clerk of Superior Court in
Harris County which I was
elected to do. It takes up so
much time — I’m standing
here in disbelief and I have
a broken heart. I’m physi
cally and mentally drained
and I’m exhausted.”
“We shouldn’t have de
linquent bills,” Cannon
added. “We shouldn’t have
that placed upon us, but
the financial concerns and
the worry and all of that
as a result of her actions is
placed upon us. Mrs. Tol
bert chose to misuse valu
able funds from all coun
ties and all taxpayers in the
state of Georgia. From the
worry of how we could pay
our bills and how we could
afford our future financial
obligations to just how are
we going to hold our heads
high and get past this, her
actions placed a negative
effect on me and all of our
offices. I continue to ask
myself how could she have
done this and I’ve come
to the realization that she
could have had no concern
for our membership, for
our association.”
Tolbert spoke in her own
testimony about how she
had been living beyond her
means and said she always
intended to pay it back by
cutting from her paycheck
every month. She also
gave her apologies and ex
pressed that she hoped she
could be forgiven one day.
Several witnesses from
the county spoke in her
defense about her char
acter and hard work she’s
put in for the high school
FFA showmanship teams,
church activities and a lo
cal twirling club.
One character witness
who spoke in defense was
her husband. He said two
of their three sons have
Fragile X Syndrome, so
they can’t drive and will
be in their parents’ care for
their entire lives. He spoke
about how during his long
shifts as Clarke County
Fire Department captain,
she transports and cares for
their children. He says she
also takes his ailing father
to doctor’s appointments
and errands.
Defense attorney Ed
Tolley included the care for
family members in recom
mending a sentence, say
ing it would be a hardship
on the family for her to be
in prison and not at home.
He also spoke to her char
acter, lack of criminal his
tory and readiness to pay
back funds in asking for a
probation and restitution
sentence.
In rebuttal, prosecut
ing attorney Jeff Lee said
that he believed she didn’t
think of her family when
she was committing the
crime. He also believed
that she did it out of greed
because the household had
two salaries. Lee said the
punishment should fit the
crime and resulting hard
ship, which restitution
wouldn’t be able to ab
solve.
In sentencing, Judge
Chris Phelps said he
and the court ultimately
looked at the facts of the
case and accountability
for the crime committed.
“While the defendant
was not an elected official,
she served 636 elected of
ficials and this undertaking
placed the defendant in an
extremely high position
of trust,” he said dining
his remarks. “Then there’s
the amount of monies in
volved - almost $100,000.
These monies negatively
impacted the operations
of the association greatly,
not only in cutting back on
training and meetings, but
created and continues to
create internal accounting
havoc ... This [crime] was
not a one-time occurrence,
nor a situation where there
was a lifesaving medical
emergency or a one-time
severe financial hardship,
not that that would excuse
the conduct. This clearly
evidences a willful and
knowing pattern of deceit
and theft - it truly became
a habit. The conduct of
the defendant is just unac
ceptable and, frankly, just
inexcusable by any defini
tion of a reason.”
“This has been most
difficult,” he concluded.
“There are no winners. A
family has been complete
ly upended. An organiza
tion has been violated and
wrong. Hopefully from this
day forward, the pieces can
now begin to be put back
together and the process of
healing can begin.”
Daniels ville continued from 1A
signs well after events
have ended. The mayor
reminded the group that
the city may remove signs
from the right-of-way at
any time and at its discre
tion.
At the conclusion of
the meeting, the mayor
reminded residents the
deadline to register for the
municipal election is Oct.
10. Citizens wishing to
register may contact the
Madison County Board of
Elections and Registration
for more information on
voter registration.
The City of Danielsville
meets the second Monday
of the month at 7 p.m.
Madison County 4-H
Fruit Tree Sale
Select Varieties of:
Apples
Peaches
Pears
Pecans
Blueberries
Blackberries
Grapes
Figs
Muscadines
Pomegranate
Raspberries
Elderberries
Goji Berries
Order deadline is
Friday, November 3rd.
Visit https://t.uga.edu/6i5
(scan the QR code with your
phone's camera) or call the
Madison County Extension
office at 706.795.2281
sales or purchases of adja
cent property. The system
has received an appraisal
for five acres adjacent to
Hull-Sanford. A buyer has
expressed interest in that
property. In addition, an
adjoining property owner
to Colbert has expressed in
terest in selling a portion of
his property to the school.
Along with his reports
on school and building
sites, the superintendent
reported that schools are in
the process of completing
updated safety measures.
Those items include intruder
and lockdown drills in each
school before Oct. 1.
The Board also approved a
capital outlay for the middle
school HVAC replacement.
The system’s application
for matching funds from the
State has been approved.
The total cost of the new
HVAC replacement will be
offset by about 50 percent.
The estimated cost to the
system is about $1,366 mil
lion with a requirement to
spend the state funds within
five years.
OTHER BUSINESS
In addition to the reports,
the board approved:
• overnight field trips.
•the final purchase and
sale agreement for the sale
of a partial interest in Rut
land Academy to Clarke
County School District for
$587,505.
• the CTAE Local Plan
to accept federal and state
funds of $275,777.
•updated BOE policies to
reflect current legislation.
Those policies are available
on the BOE webpage.
Williams continued from 1A
which has extended op
portunities for students not
entering college after high
school. The system also
opened a new transporta
tion facility to service bus
es during Williams’ watch.
Williams will continue
serving through the cur
rent school year. He said
he doesn’t have another
position lined up but will
continue working for a few
years either in the public or
private sector.
“I’ll still be in the com
munity on the sidelines in
stead of leading from the
front,” he said.
A successor has yet to
be named and a timeline
has not been published in
the search for Williams’ re
placement.
Tax continued from 1A
Kemp first suspended the
motor fuels tax in March
of last year, shortly after
the Russian invasion of
Ukraine and subsequent
sanctions on Russia drove
gasoline prices in Geor
gia to a record high of
more than $4 a gallon. He
renewed the suspension
each month until lifting it
last January. During those
months, Georgians saved
about $1.7 billion.
Gasoline prices have
crept up again over the
summer. The average cost
of a gallon of regular gas in
Georgia currently is $3.57
per gallon, up from $3.24 a
year ago, according to AAA.
Suspension of the gas tax
will save Georgians 31.2
cents per gallon and 35 cents
per gallon of diesel fuel.
Hunter Loggins, Georgia
state director for the Nation
al Federation of Independent
Business, praised the move
to suspend the tax.
“The cost of fuel affects
the cost of practically every
thing,” he said. “The average
gas price in Georgia may be
well below the record $4.50
a gallon set in the summer of
2022, but it’s still a lot higher
than we were paying a year
ago, and that leads to higher
prices across the board.”
The rise in prices at the
pump is being attributed to
a combination of factors,
including rising summer
demand, a slowdown at oil
refineries due to extreme
summer heat, and recent
production cuts by member
nations of the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC).
Kemp said the state can
afford to do without the gas
oline tax revenue because of
the huge budget surplus he
has built up during the last
three years. The state com
pleted fiscal 2023 at the end
of June with a surplus esti
mated at nearly $4.8 billion.
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